Apostolova: Public, Painful, but Needed Administration Reform

So has the head of the EU Office in Kosovo, Natalia Apostolova, declared during the discussion éthics at the FOL Public Administration, with what he said public administration reform is painful but necessary.

There can be no development of democratic society without the power of public administration. To share the powers, we need to know how public administration is created. In Kosovo, we did not have a separate law on establishing state officials and on wages to determine salaries. The state budget wasn't as clear as the category and how many people were paid... There is a big challenge, because you have to negotiate with the government, with MAP Minister of Finance how to approach this reform. This is a painful reform because, as we know, Kosovo has an expanded number of public officials”, she said.

She has expressed her concerns today over the appointments of different persons leading the agencies on property issues. While it has re-criticised the Kosovo government's decision to raise salaries for ministers' advisers and other officials, since, according to it, it has caused budget instability.

“We have communicated with the prime minister's office, because there have been several ad-hoc decisions that have brought some concerns to us. It has been a decision to raise salaries for ministers' advisers and the rest of the employed officials, which came from the prime minister's office. For us, this decision that was not co-ordinated within the government or with international partners was a surprise and was made when we had achieved progress with public administration reform. That raised many concerns, because if you see this decision, it destabilised the financial stability of budget”, Apostolova said.

Public Administration Minister Mahir Jagcilar said Kosovo must be prepared with administrative reform, as in European countries. He said ethics in public administration is the central pillar of the Strategy for Modernisation of Public Administration 2015-2020, as well as a top priority in relations between Kosovo and the European Union, as he announced the findings of the report on disciplinary measures in civil service during 2018.

It is important to note that only seven institutions have not responded to MAP's request for information, while 85 other institutions have claimed there have been no cases of taking disciplinary measures against civil servants during 2018. Of the data collected by the MAP during 2018, including the local and central level, there have been 82 cases of disciplinary measures against civil servants for violations of ethics and anti-corruption legislation. Out of 82 cases, 64 cases were serious violations, while 18 cases were minor violations”, he said.

Regarding the central level, he said that during 2018, there are 43 cases of disciplinary measures against civil servants for violations of ethics and anticorruption legislation. Yagcilar announced that in 33 cases serious violations are involved, while 10 cases of minor wrongdoing.

As far as municipal levels date back to 2018, he said there have been 39 cases of disciplinary measures against civil servants for violations of ethics.

“in 31 cases are involved in serious violations, while 8 cases have had slight violations. The decision to cut off employment as a result of violations committed has been taken against 5 civil servants”, he said.

All in the end, Jagcilar said the most common disciplinary measures have been the preventative suspension based on Article 69 of the former civil service law.